"Free money, but I'm still indebted."

As I studied in the Student Center before meeting up with Luis for breakfast, I smiled when I got a text message that read “I’m like, formal casual, should I be dressed up more?” To Luis, the word “interview” called immediately for a sports jacket, despite that it was 9AM and we were probably two of twenty people in the Livingston Dining Commons. Earlier this year, I began forming a great friendship with Luis Fernandez, a first-year student who works with me in the Residence Hall Association.  A self-described “emergent leader,” I watched in awe as he came into the University and hit the ground running, as if making an adjustment to college simply took too much time out of his already busy schedule.  He lives in a discovery house, is president of Quad Two’s Hall Government, and has taken a position (possibly through some influence from yours truly) as a Captain on Dance Marathon’s Finance team. He participates in the Rising Leaders Institute, and will be attending the Leadership '66 conference this year.  It is only February, but he has big plans for next year, expressing his intention of applying for an Assistant Director position for DM 2013, and currently running for Advocacy Director of RHA.  He doesn’t find this all startling either, he says simply, “I’m just social, and I learned to use it to my advantage.”  


Luis's enthusiasm for his involvement is incredible for being only a semester and a half into school.  I watched as in his Intro to Organizational Leadership class, he set up the powerpoint he had created for his group's presentation. After the title slide were about 15 slides with pictures of Dance Marathon, and he clicked through them saying "Oh, that's strange, how did these get into the presentation?...You should do Dance Marathon. Oh, and that's a flyer reminding you to vote for me for RHA Advocacy Director...how did that get in there!" and I couldn't help but just throw my head back and laugh.  I remind myself constantly that he’s not what one would call an “ordinary” first-year.  He’s eager to consistently put his best foot forward, but the most striking characteristic of Luis is his intuition of simply how things work around the University.  He grasps group and organizational dynamics quickly, even stating to me that if he cannot understand the dynamic of a group almost instantly, he feels unsettled.  This trait has served him well as he immerses himself in different aspects of Rutgers student life. It has also given him an interesting perspective on his orientation, and an understanding of the difficulties the orientation program can face. 

When speaking with Luis about his first year and orientation experience, I began to understand that it was much different than my own.  I had gone through Leadership Quest first, and then one week later I participated in the traditional two-day New Student Orientation. I made an effort to be engaged and definitely took away relationships and information, but in hindsight I believe I spent most of my mental energy missing my LQ friends and feeling as though much of what NSO could teach me, I had already learned.  Luis on the other hand went through a much different experience than I had.  He’s a part of the Educational Opportunity Fund, and previously, I thought I had a basic understanding of what that meant.  Over our breakfast sandwiches and eggs he explained what his experience in EOF entailed, and I understood there was much more behind EOF than I thought I knew, and his orientation experience was not at all what the traditional student would typically go through.  His NSO experience was only one day long, and in that he  found what he believes to be what is troublesome about the EOF-tailored orientation.  In describing it in one word, the prevalent word was “rushed.”  He expressed, with a patient understanding of the time constraint, that he simply “didn’t feel [he] understood what Rutgers was about.”  He spoke about how the OL’s made a strong effort to mask it, but it was clear to him that the whole day was stressful for them.  When asked more specific questions about his particular orientation group, I was startled when Luis delayed in remembering his OL’s name, and remarked that he didn’t really remember anyone in his group either.  I have watched Luis time and time again come into a new group and soak up information like it’s his lifeline.  He’s quick with names and even quicker with how those individuals can fit together, but he described the day as a “whirlwind,” with so much being presented, that not all of it was able to stick. 

Coming out of this past week’s presentation on the Thriving Quotient, I explained to Luis this idea of surviving versus thriving and how we can look at the information that was presented at his orientation session through this frame.  We discussed how with a time constraint, his orientation experience gave him the information needed to get by at the time, but not necessarily thrive, which is understandable given that EOF’s program is tailored with workshops and counselors that help promote thriving.  But Luis still felt strongly that one thing in particular needed to have been better incorporated into his orientation: getting involved. He feels this is particularly so with EOF students, as many are in work study programs and feel as though getting involved will take up too much time, which as Luis stated, leads to a “work, study, party” mentality.  Luis remarked that one person standing in front of a room saying “you can get involved” is about as productive as a celebrity saying “I appreciate my fans.” A person’s first instinct is, “well that’s nice, but that’s a generalization and it probably does not apply to me.” However, if someone speaks to you individually about what you’re interested in, what opportunities Rutgers has, and why you should get involved (or if a celebrity says “I appreciate you” to a single fan) it makes much more of an impact on that person. He encouraged me to speak with every student I could this summer, share my experiences, and let them know how getting involved has so positively impacted my time here at Rutgers.  He also encouraged me to let them know that they can find the time, they can find the right organization, and it can make them a better student, leader, and overall person.  He felt that it was skipped over in his orientation experience in the commotion of fitting two days into one, and OL’s could be more of a resource to encourage involvement in EOF students.

I was curious as to where this engagement and enthusiasm Luis seemed to always possess, rather than develop, came from. Part of it, I believe, is simply his personality. The other part of it is gratitude that he has no reserves about expressing. He summed up the obligation he feels to Rutgers and the EOF program when he said “Free money, but I’m still indebted,” and elaborated on this need to give back to the Rutgers community by stating, “EOF and Rutgers gave me an opportunity. Who am I to waste this? Who am I to be that selfish?” Rutgers has found a huge asset to our community in Luis, and I hope that I can help orientation foster a similar spirit in the incoming new students while remembering Luis’s feedback on his EOF orientation experience.